Empowering 100 At-Risk Students against Child Sexual Abuse
In Partnership with GlobalGiving
Sri Lanka is very vulnerable to child sex tourism, trafficking and online sexual exploitation of children. Statistics state that there are over 40,000 child prostitutes, amongst a population of just 21 Million. Many innocent children have unwittingly become victims; due to lack of awareness and security at home, urgent need for money for their families, etc.
In June 2018, PEaCE underwent an extremely rigorous vetting process and a challenging fundraiser to become a prideful partner of GlobalGiving. Our very first project on Global Giving aims to prevent such crimes by training 100 at-risk Sri Lankan children from underprivileged regions and tourist hot-spots.
This project, which is being currently implemented, directly benefits 5 groups of 20 students, from 5 different schools. This selection of the students is being done with the assistance of the Ministry of Education (MoE). The expected outcome being that these students will be outstanding leaders in their schools and communities.
The selected students aged between 14 and 16 will be given an initial 2-day training that will enable them to become Change Makers in their communities. They will be trained on Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation, methods of identifying victims, immediate measures after the crime is discovered, reporting to the authorities, identification of abusers, evidence protection, victim protection measures (including medical aid, trauma counselling and safety measures), and methods of raising awareness on the relevant areas.
Following this, the students will be given a three months period, providing them an opportunity to test their newly acquired skills in raising awareness within their schools and amongst the community. There will be some impromptu site visits by PEaCE to monitor their progress and facilitate them to deal with any concerns, confusions or complications that they may stumble upon in the course of their work.
At the end of three months, the beneficiaries will have another follow-up training, where the students will have to present the progress that they made. After an assessment of their performance, PEaCE will advise them on any possible improvements, while briefly re-visiting what they had learnt previously.
After this, the students will be given a further six months to put their skills to optimum use. Occasional site visits may be made by PEaCE during this period. When the specified time period is over, they will undergo a testing process where they will have to show the significant positive changes that they have actioned to prevent child abuse. This will be measured with regards to raising awareness, activities that they conducted/initiated, child abuse reports that they made, and the training of other potential Change-Makers from their schools.
When they have proved themselves to be completely trained Change-Makers who are able to lead their schools and communities with confidence into a new era of safety and security; they will be accredited by PEaCE as Certified Change Makers for Child Protection. They will also be invited to the next Children’s Day (2019) events organised by PEaCE and they will be awarded for their achievements.
Those who may require more time to grow will be provided with a brief follow-up training.
Please visit our project page to learn more or make a contribution